Honto
by starry-oblivion
Summary: Be prepared for extreme fluffiness. This is a sweet little InuyashaKagome story where Kagome learns that a little bit of music really goes a long way.


"Hontō"

"So… what exactly _is_ it?"

Kagome looked up at Miroku. "It's a CD player," she answered him with a smile. She was sitting by the Bone Eater's Well with Miroku, Sango, and Shippou. She had just had an argument with Inuyasha not too long ago and he was off sulking. "You just flick the switch and-." She let the result be the end to her statement. Hitting the "play" button, Kagome smiled when her friends' eyes widened as they could hear muffled sounds coming from the headphones. Seeing that Shippou seemed the most perplexed, she carefully put the headphones over his ears.

The small boy gasped. "Kagome! There are people singing in my ears!" The girl laughed again. "That's right, Shippou. See, where I come from, singers can record their music onto these discs called CDs." She picked up a CD case and showed it to them. "That way, we can play them on these CD players and listen to them whenever we want, even if the musicians are nowhere near us."

Miroku and Sango "oohed" and "ahhed" over it for a while. Shippou was intent on trying to catch the words in Kagome's CD thing. He had never heard the music known as "pop" before, and wondered why Kagome liked it if it was so hard to understand the words. "These don't sound like any instruments _I've_ ever heard before." Kagome was about to explain that they had machines in her time that created much of their music rather than use traditional instruments, but saw a familiarly grouchy figure emerge from the woods.

She looked at him warily before calling out to him. "Oi, Inuyasha!" The hanyou had his arms crossed over his chest and was turned away from the group, pointing his nose up. In short, he was in his standard "I'm-pissed-so-leave-me-alone" stance. As usual, Kagome did not comply. She stood up and walked over to him, leaving the CD player in Shippou's paws. She was speaking to Inuyasha the whole time.

"Inuyasha, I don't know what the big problem is. I've passed most of my tests, by some miracle, so now I'm hopefully graduating. I just need to stay home for about a week and a half so I can take my last final and get ready for graduation practice. After that, I have an entire summer free. I don't even need to go to summer school this time around! I'll come back in less than two weeks and we'll keep on looking for the rest of the Shikon shards for the whole summer." She was barely able to finish that statement when Inuyasha turned to her and snapped at her.

"Two weeks? You think I care about your stinkin' tests or your stupid graduation? You forget that I don't even know what them things _are_! This ain't like in your world, where you spend months tryin' to see if you passed some stupid class; in this world, two weeks can mean life or death. And I ain't gonna sit around and _wait_ for you, you hear me, Kagome?"

"Inuyasha, you don't have a choice!" She was getting angry by now, but was keeping her voice down to a reasonable level. "You _need_ me to help you find those shards!" Inuyasha turned away from her again. "Keh! You're startin' to get full of yourself! Why would I need a whiny little brat like _you_ tailin' around?"

Even with the music blocking out most of the sound, Shippou knew that Inuyasha had just said something that he shouldn't have said. Miroku and Sango sighed and looked at one another, knowing what was coming next.

"_Osuwari!!_"

Inuyasha grunted as his body smashed into the ground. "What in the hells did you do that for?" Inuyasha angrily cried up at her. Crossing her own arms over her chest, Kagome looked down at the fallen hanyou, a fire smoldering behind her large brown eyes. "Inuyasha…" she began carefully, not wanting to blow up at him just yet. Through gritted teeth, she continued, "I am _going_ back home, and if you have a _problem_ with that, then you can _continue_ the search without me. I don't _care_. But I _do_ have a problem with _you_ pretending that you don't need _me_. So how about it, Inuyasha? Are you _ever_ going to admit that you need me, even if it's just as a 'Shikon detector'?"

Kagome was on the verge of trembling. She was burning up, and had no clear idea why. Her three friends who were sitting quietly by the well could also tell that something was different this time around. Everyone knew that Kagome was especially heated up… except for the Oblivious Hanyou on the ground. "Keh," he said, sitting up and brushing dirt off of his haori. "'_Admit_'? Like it's somethin' to hide, right? You should know by now that I don't hide _nothin'_! So if you think I'm hidin' some feelings about _you_-."

"_Feelings????_"

Inuyasha stopped and gawked at Kagome as she shrieked down at him. That was when it hit home that she wasn't in the great mood that she had been in moments before. "What makes you _think_ that I was talking about _feelings_?? Are you trying to imply that… that…?" Frustrated, she turned sharply away from him and closed her eyes, trying to ignore the angry tears in them. "_Osuwari!_" When she heard him grunt and hit the ground again, it made her feel slightly better. "_Osuwari, osuwari, osuwari, osuwari, osuwari, osuwari, O-SU-WA-RI!!!_"

Yelling at the top of her lungs now, Kagome only stopped because she had run out of breath. She tried to get her breathing back to normal, then realized that this was more stress than she needed over a silly argument that she had thought she ended ten minutes before. Without a word to anyone, she ran to the well and dropped herself down into it.

"Kagome-sama," Miroku exclaimed, trying to stop her. "Kagome-chan!" Sango looked down into the well, only to see that she was already gone. Shippou yanked the headphones off of his ears and jumped onto Sango's shoulder, peering down into the well. "Kagome!!"

The kitsune turned over to Inuyasha, seething. The hanyou was lying on his face in the ground, a nice imprint of his body surrounding the grass around him. When he weakly pushed himself onto his elbows enough to look up, he saw Shippou's green eyes glaring at him. Not registering the anger behind them, he asked, "Is she gone?"

"Hai," Miroku nodded, with a sigh. He sat on the well's shaft and Sango sat besides him. "And who knows when she'll be back," the taijya wondered aloud. "Keh! _I _do." Inuyasha began to get back up as he spoke. "She won't last more than a day out-." He stopped when he felt something heavy fall on his hand, pinning it to the ground. "Eh?" He looked down and his eyes widened in anger when he saw that Shippou was affixing a sealing scroll on a stone statue sitting on Inuyasha's hand. "Oi, Shippou! What the-…?"

The kitsune clapped his hands together as though washing his hands of something distasteful and looked at Inuyasha sternly. "Baka!" Inuyasha's eyes widened again at the insult. "What did you just call me?"

"Bakabakabakabakabakabaka_baka_!" He turned sharply on his heels, giving the hanyou his back. "You're just lucky that _that's_ not the word we use to 'sit' you, or else you'd never get up off the floor!"

Inuyasha stretched his free hand out towards Shippou, meaning to pull the boy over by his hair, but saw that the kitsune had put just enough distance between them to be out of reach. "Oi, you little brat! You'd better quit foolin' around!"

"_You're _the one who needs to stop fooling around, _baka_!" Shippou looked back at him, his green eyes flashing. Sango looked on with amusement, but the look on Miroku's face was quite serious. "All you ever do lately is yell at Kagome! She's got a life back in her land, with parents who love her! None of _us_ have any parents left!" Sango's amused expression melted away into one of stunned sadness. "She's got a mom who loves her and a granddad who cares about her, and a little brother who respects her! And she's got _friends_! Real friends who help her with these tests that she takes! And yet she still comes out here and helps _us_!"

"She damned well _better_ come here and help us!" Inuyasha interrupted, not liking the fact that he was being lectured by a kid a fraction of his size. "If it weren't for _her_, the Shikon no Tama woulda never showed up here in the first place! And it wouldn't have been broken into all of those pieces that we gotta go find!"

"And if it weren't for her," Miroku interjected as he rose to his feet, "_you'd_ still be pinned to a tree, dreaming your life away." Inuyasha's mouth snapped shut as he looked up at the monk. "Shippou is right, Inuyasha. For all of the risks that Kagome-sama takes, you don't seem to appreciate her."

"Shut up, bouzo!" Inuyasha snapped. "You and Sango are human, too. And Shippou's just a little runt! How many risks do _you_ take, and yet ya don't run off for weeks and expect me not to yell?"

"Houshi-sama is gifted with especially powerful houriki," Sango stepped in patiently. "And as a taijya, I am trained to deal with youkai. Shippou, though small, _does_ posses youkai abilities. And furthermore… we were raised here, Inuyasha. This is a strange world for Kagome-chan. Although she seems to have adapted well enough, she still needs to learn to balance the customs of _this_ land with those of her own."

Miroku continued. "She is neither a regular girl, nor a miko. She is neither a normal human, nor a youkai. She isn't even a hanyou. Inuyasha, even _you_ should be able to understand that she does _not_ belong here. She belongs _there_." With that, the monk pointed over to the well.

Inuyasha looked away and rolled his eyes. "Sheesh. What's makin' you ingrates gang up on me all of a sudden? It's not like she's never comin' back."

"She might not, Inuyasha." Inuyasha looked down at Shippou, annoyed. "What makes you say that, ya brat?" Shippou let out a small growl before he jumped up and gave Inuyasha a solid bonk on the head as he cried out, "Because she was crying, _baka_!!"

Shippou landed on his feet, breathing hard and glaring at the stunned hanyou. Inuyasha blinked at him, his face softening by only a mere fraction. "Crying? She was… crying?" Miroku stepped forwards. "Hai, Inuyasha. I suggest that you think about that for a while." Walking past Inuyasha, the houshi beckoned to Sango and Shippou. "Come. Let us leave him alone with his thoughts."

Seeing the other two follow behind the monk, Inuyasha strengthened his battle with the stone statue again. "Wha- Oi! Oooiii!" He lashed his free hand out at the three accomplices, only to miss them by an inch or two. "How long are ya gonna leave me here?" Without glancing back, Miroku answered, "As long as it takes." Sango glanced into Miroku's face and knew that he had no intention of leaving Inuyasha there for longer than a few hours.

Shippou trailed behind. He still had Kagome's CD player, and knew that that jerk was probably going to see her before he did. He tossed the little electronic at the hanyou. "Here." Surprised, Inuyasha caught it and looked at it. "It belongs to Kagome. It plays music. Maybe you should listen to it and see if it gives you any ideas on how to apologize to her." Inuyasha glared at the kitsune as he began walking away. Alone now, Inuyasha sniffed the CD player, noting that music was indeed coming from the strange earmuff-looking things.

Then he put it down and continued his fruitless struggle with the statue.

Kagome closed the door of the shrine and sunk down into a sitting position on the steps.

_Ooh, that _JERK She was indeed trembling now in her frustration. She hugged her knees to her chest and rested her head on her knees. _I can't believe that after all of this time he's still such an immature little… ooooh!_ She raised her head and wiped away any small tears that might've fallen. _I can't worry about that now. Since I'm here early, I may as well make the best of it and get some studying done. _

She got up and descended the stairs of the shrine, finding it odd that she didn't have her backpack with her that time. After all, she had only gone to the Feudal Era to spend some time with her friends and…. "Oh!" Kagome stopped when she realized that her hands were empty. _My new CD player… I left it back there! Mom's gonna kill me if I come back without it!_ Debating with herself for a moment, she continued on to her home, deciding to tell her mother that she had loaned it to Shippou to remember her by while she was gone. _It's kinda the truth, I guess._

Entering her house, she realized that she would probably miss the CD that was in it. _It was the one that Sarah-chan had just sent me. _Sarah was a penpal she had been writing to for a few months from America. Kagome had begun writing to Sarah only as a part of her English class, but soon became friends with her. Sarah had told her how big of a fan she was of "J-pop," which was what Americans called Japanese pop. However, Sarah wrote, it was hard to find some of the good stuff for a decent price in American stores. Kagome could take a hint, and so had created a mix CD for the girl. Sarah had loved it and decided to return the favor. The CD that Kagome had left with Shippou was a mix of the current most popular hits in America. This may be why Shippou found it difficult to decipher any familiar words.

"Hey Sis!" Kagome looked up and saw her brother Souta sitting in the living room, playing video games. "Back so soon?" If Kagome had not calmed herself down a bit by thinking about Sarah, she would have blown up at the boy and would have regretted it. "Yeah," she said testily. "I, uh… have a lot of work to do." Souta nodded, then tore his eyes away from the television as he defeated a level and smiled up at his older sister. "Yeah, I've got a math test and a science test to take next week. It's gonna be tough." He paused, then asked sheepishly, "I don't suppose you can help me study for them, can you? Like you used to before you met Inu-no-oniisan?"

Kagome paused for a moment, then smiled softly. She remembered how she used to spend all of her time divided between school, homework, her friends, and spending time with Souta. She knew that as girls grew older, they spent less time with their family, but it usually wasn't because they were time-traveling with the intent of fighting demons and collecting jewel shards. "I've dedicated the next ten days to studying and other school stuff," she told him gently. "I'm pretty sure I can spare one of those days to helping you out."

Souta's face lit up. "Really? That's great!" Heading upstairs to her room, Kagome added, "Maybe we can go out for ice cream that day, too. I hear it's supposed to get really hot at the end of the week." As she disappeared to the second landing, she heard an ecstatic voice call up, "Arigato, onēsan!"

Kagome smiled to herself. _Maybe this'll all be over soon. After graduation, I'll go back to the Sengoku Jidai and find the rest of the shards and help them defeat Naraku. It should be over by the time the new school year starts. And then… then I'll just come back and attend high school and things will be over._

Entering her room, her smile fell as an expression of contemplation blanketed her face. _Since I'm just a Shikon detector, there's no reason to go back after the Shikon no Tama is completed. Sango-chan will go find her brother, Miroku-sama can live his life how he wants without his kazaana and can either choose to follow Sango-chan or not. Shippou can stay with them, if that's where he feels more comfortable, and Inuyasha…. Inuyasha will use the Shikon no Tama to become a full youkai, and go off and do whatever it is that youkai do. _

A sob wanted to escape Kagome's throat as she thought of Inuyasha going into his full youkai form for the rest of his life. _It's what he wants. It might not be what _I_ would choose for him, but I don't decide how he runs his life. After all… it's not as though he… he _needs_ me or anything._

Kagome sighed as she dropped herself onto her bed. It had taken her a long time to admit to herself that she had developed feelings for Inuyasha. It took an even longer time (and some courage) to tell him that she only wanted to spend time with him, even if only as a friend, because she respected the emotions he still had for Kikyou. And now… now more than ever Kagome fully realized that Inuyasha didn't see her as anything more than a friend. _Maybe not even a friend,_ she thought dismally as she laid down, hugging a teddy bear to her chest. _I'm just a Shikon detector… a silly girl who happens to look like his ex-girlfriend… and who can never live up to her legacy._

She sat up, determined not to let this get to her. _So what? If that's the case, then that's all the better for me. I can stay here after the Shikon no Tama's completion and finish living out my life. Maybe I can finally go to a movie with Houjo-kun if we manage to defeat Naraku before the summer's up._ Getting off her bed and making her way to her desk, she swallowed back another choked sob as she resolutely thought, _The best thing Inuyasha can do for me is to stay out of my life._

Though she didn't believe a word of it, a satisfied smile came to her lips as she opened up her trigonometry textbook.

Some time later, Kagome slowly opened her eyes.

"Mmm… eh?" She picked her head up from the desk. She had fallen asleep while studying! Groaning, she sat herself up. "What time is it?" Kagome wondered aloud.

"The long hand is on the four and the short one is on the seven," a familiar voice informed her. Surprised, Kagome whirled around to see a hanyou sitting on her bed. "Inuyasha!" She got up from her chair so fast that she almost knocked it over. "How long have you been there?"

"If I could tell time, I'd tell ya!" She looked down and saw that he had her CD player on his lap, along with the plastic CD case that she had left on the ground by the well. "Did you come here to bring that back?" Inuyasha blinked and looked down at it. "Uh… yeah…. Shippou gave it to me and I couldn't figure out how to turn it off. It stopped eventually though."

Kagome nodded. "The batteries probably died." She held her hand out for it. "Well, thanks for not smashing it. I'm surprised you brought it back in one piece." Inuyasha glared at her. "What's that supposed to mean? I'm not the one who breaks my friend's back with my stupid 'osuwari, osuwari, osuwari' chant!"

"Well, _I'm_ not the one who doesn't care about my friends' futures and still dare to call them my friends!" Inuyasha swept the CD player and case off his lap and stood up, pointing a finger at her. "If you really cared about your friends' futures, you'd be sleepin' in Kaede's hut, gettin' ready to hunt for the shards, instead of sleepin' on some stupid book!" Kagome crossed her arms over her chest and turned around, feeling the angry fire burn up within her once again. "You're doing a lousy job of apologizing!"

Inuyasha sputtered in his irritation. "Apologize? What do you want me to apologize for? You runnin' off, me nearly diggin' my own grave on account of your stupid 'osuwari,' or that little kitsune brat almost breakin' my hand with his stupid statue so I can 'reflect over what I've done?' Which one of those do I hafta apologize for?"

Tears streamed down Kagome's eyes. "You'll just never grow up, will you?" Her words came out in a strained whisper, making Inuyasha pause. _She ain't cryin' again, is she?_ "K-Kagome?" As he took a step towards her, she raised her voice again, "Just get out of here! Go! I'll be back in a few days, and then I'll help you find the rest of that stupid jewel and you can go off and do what you need to do with it once your little Shikon detector does her job!"

Inuyasha stopped and looked at her, his eyes softening. He watched her small shoulders begin to shake as the tears came out more forcefully. If there was anything he hated in the world more than Naraku, it was probably watching girls cry. Muttering, he landed on her windowsill in one agile leap. The cool summer breeze ruffled his hair as he looked back at her, a sliver of regret in his eyes. He could see her profile now. Her clothes still had grass stains from when she was sitting by the well with Shippou, Miroku, and Sango. Her eyes were closed so she wouldn't have to look at him as he left. Her long black hair shook with every silent sob that broke loose. Unable to look at her for much longer, Inuyasha looked down.

"Kagome," he whispered quietly. A long paused passed before he finished his statement. "I like the music of your world." Kagome's eyes opened in surprise. "I don't understand it, but it's nice." With that, he turned and jumped out the window.

His departure unfroze Kagome. "Inuyasha," she murmured. _Maybe… maybe I _do_ owe _him_ an apology. I can't expect him to be a mind reader. _She turned to leave the room and then stopped. Turning, she picked up the CD player from her bed and went over to her desk. Opening a drawer, she retrieved a pack of batteries.

She left for the shrine, replacing the batteries of the CD player as she went.

Kagome was surprised to see Inuyasha out in the yard, playing with Buyo.

Sensing Kagome behind him, Inuyasha turned and looked up at her. When he met her eyes and saw that they were still red-rimmed with tears, he looked away again. With a sigh, he was about to give in and apologize when she spoke up first. "I'm sorry."

As she knelt down besides him, Inuyasha asked, "Nani?" Kagome sighed and looked down. "I'm sorry," she repeated. "I just… I was being stupid. I guess… I guess I'm just too young to understand how important the completion of the Shikon no Tama really is. It's my responsibility more than it is even yours to get all of the shards back, since it's my fault for attracting the attention of that centipede youkai in the first place."

"Keh," Inuyasha softly interjected. "From what you tell me, you woulda never been in the shrine in the first place if it hadn't been for your fat cat." Pulling on Buyo's ear playfully, he said, "It's all Buyo's fault."

Kagome allowed a small, sad smile. "Maybe," she agreed quietly. Inuyasha noticed the silence that fell upon them, other than Buyo's lazy mewls. "You know," he started, "you're not just a Shikon detector. Whoever put that thought in your head is the biggest jerk in the world." Her eyes looked up at his serious face. "_You_ were the one who called me that. Way back when we first met Shippou."

"Like I said," Inuyasha muttered, expecting that. "The biggest jerk in the world." Kagome raised her head to meet his eyes head-on. "If I didn't know better, Inuyasha, I'd say that that sounded almost humble."

"Keh," Inuyasha exclaimed as he let Buyo get away. "Don't let it get to your head. After gettin' yelled at by the others, I figured that either the whole world was crazy or I really _am_ a jerk. I can't help what I am or anythin' but at least I've got the guts to _admit_ what I am."

Kagome let out a small snicker. "I thought that 'admitting' something meant that you had something to hide. I thought you didn't hide anything, Inuyasha." She stopped her laughter when she saw the sincerity behind his eyes. "Maybe I've got a lot more to hide than I'd want to admit."

They shared a moment of eye contact that Kagome would never forget. Never had she seen that look on Inuyasha's face. It was almost a look of… of…. _Of maturity_, Kagome thought. "Inuyasha…" she began quietly.

"Why'd you bring that music box out here?" Kagome blinked as Inuyasha quickly changed the subject. "Oh." She looked down at the CD player in her hands. "I… I was wondering… which songs it was that you liked. These are in a different language, see, so if I had an idea of what kind of music you liked, I could make you a CD with Japanese words." Inuyasha looked at her in surprise. "_You_ know how to make one of _those_?" He pointed at the CD player.

"Oh! No! It's um… a little complicated. I only know how to put music on the disc inside of it." She opened up the CD player and exposed the CD inside. Inuyasha looked at it, a bit confused, and stuck out a clawed finger, meaning to poke it experimentally. Kagome stopped him. "Be careful! They can get scratched really easily!" She closed the CD player again. "I was thinking of giving you my old CD player and a handful of batteries to power it with. There's nothing wrong with it; I just got a newer model for my birthday last month. Then… you know… you could listen to music when I'm not around… as a way to pass the time."

"But Kagome," Inuyasha said suspiciously, "I thought you said that you were gonna have the rest of the summer to spend with us without having to worry about school." Kagome let out a wavering smile, finding herself unable to tell him about her plans to leave the group permanently after the Shikon shards have all been found. "Here," she said, putting the headphones gently on his ears. "I'm going to turn it on. You tell me which songs you liked."

Seeing the change of subject as an answer that he didn't want to hear, Inuyasha looked down. _She's leavin' me_, he realized as music started to flood through his ears. _I mean, she's leavin' _us_. But… she's leavin' _me "Inuyasha?" Inuyasha looked up at her. "So, did you like that first one?" Inuyasha listened to the song and shook his head. "The girl's voice sounds… I don't know… mechanical or somethin'." Kagome giggled. She was able to hear a bit of the music from where she was and knew exactly what he was talking about. "Well, that's a singer named Britney Spears, so there's probably a reason for that."

Not understanding but figuring that asking a question would lead Kagome into a speech about some machines that he wasn't familiar with, Inuyasha listened to the next song that played. He shook his head again. "This guy sounds like he's had too much saké and is about to attack someone." Kagome laughed again. "That's called rap music. I think this rapper's called Snoop Dogg or something. Maybe he's a distant relative of yours or something."

Inuyasha growled jokingly at her remark. She jumped ahead to the next track. Inuyasha's expression once again softened. "This song I like," he murmured. The song was a softer one, so Kagome was unable to tell which one it was. Raising herself up, she rested a hand on his shoulder for balance as she placed her ear against his, trying to pick up on the tune. Inuyasha was caught off-guard by the sudden closeness. "K-Kagome-."

"It _is_ a nice song," she whispered quietly when she recognized it. "I'm surprised you'd like something so romantic." Inuyasha blinked. "Romantic?" Kagome nodded. "What's so romantic about it?"

"It's about a guy telling a girl how much he loves her, and how scared he is to admit his feelings." Inuyasha felt a small blush rise up in his cheeks. "Oh… I didn't know that." Kagome murmured, "I didn't expect you to know." Inuyasha was painfully aware of her closeness and of the warmth of her small hand on his shoulder. _She knows what the song is… so why hasn't she moved away yet? _"Kagome?"

"Mmm?" Inuyasha hesitated before gently placing one of his hands over hers. "Do you know this language that he's singin'?" He felt her back stiffen for a moment when he made contact with her before she relaxed and nodded against his head. "I'm learning it in school. I'm not great at it, but I know enough to figure out what songs mean." Inuyasha was silent for a moment before he asked, "D'ya think you could tell me what the words mean? The music's nice, but it'd be a nicer song if I actually knew what he was sayin'."

_What is he doing?_ Kagome wondered this almost frantically. _I already told him what the song means… why does he want to know what the individual words mean?_ Instead of voicing these questions and risking another argument with him, she nodded again. "Sure. I'll just restart the song."

She sat down besides him and brought them back to the beginning of the track, increasing the volume enough for her to be able to hear the song without having to get so close to him. As the music started, Inuyasha looked down at her, mildly disappointed that she hadn't leaned back up as she had done before. Annoyed at himself, he reached out and grabbed her around her shoulders, pulling her into him. Kagome was surprised when she felt her head resting on Inuyasha's shoulder, and felt his head resting atop of hers. "So you can hear the music," he whispered quietly. Kagome nodded.

"I won't talk," she said. "I won't breathe. I won't move until you finally see that you belong with me." Inuyasha's heart stopped for a moment before he realized that she was only translating the song. He let out a sigh and tried to ignore the guy singing in his ears, imagining that Kagome was actually speaking to him.

"You might think I don't look, but deep inside the corner of my mind, I'm attached to you. I'm weak, it's true. I'm afraid to know the answers. Do you want me, too? Because my heart keeps falling faster. I've waited all my life to cross this line, to the only thing that's true. So I will not hide. It's time to try anything to be with you. All my life I've waited. This is true."

Inuyasha felt something warm and foreign sting the corner of his eye. He dimly realized that it was a tear. _Why am I wishin' that these things that she's sayin' are actually comin' from her?_ Inuyasha closed his eyes and inhaled her scent. He tried to block out all of his thoughts so he could concentrate on the other lyrics she was translating and pretend that they weren't only lyrics.

"I'm weak, it's true. I'm just too scared to know the ending. Do you see me too? Do you even know you met me?" Inuyasha thought he heard her voice crack at those words. He pulled her closer and was surprise to see that she had grasped the hand that he had laid on his lap. He closed his fingers around hers and smoothed out her hair. She translated out the chorus again before getting into the last line and then the chorus once again.

"I know when I go, I'll be on my way to you. The way that's true. I've waited all my life to cross this line, to the only thing that's true. So I will not hide. It's time to try anything to be with you. All my life I've waited. This is true."

Kagome felt thin streaks of tears falling down her face as the American singer Ryan Cabrera whispered the last three words into Inuyasha's ear. If the hanyou only knew that these _weren't _only lyrics. _This _is_ true, Inuyasha. It's the only thing that _is

They sat there in the grass, letting the cool night breeze dance across their tear-stained faces. The most important words they have ever left unspoken were passing between them. Holding each other close, Inuyasha decided that he didn't care if they defeated Naraku that very night, that very second; he would _never_ let Kagome just walk out of his life.

"Oh! Inu-no-oniisan!"

Inuyasha and Kagome turned around to see Souta and his friend Satoru behind then. Souta had a soccer ball in his hand. "I heard yelling upstairs," the boy told Inuyasha, "but it looks like you've made up now. Would you like to play soccer with me and Satoru-kun?"

"Soh-…soccer?" Inuyasha looked at the boy confusedly as Kagome sat up and took her hand out of Inuyasha's grasp, wiping at her eyes. Souta walked eagerly over to Inuyasha and took his hand, pulling him to his feet. "Hai! It's a game! We'll teach you as we play. You can be on my team! Onēsan, you join Satoru's team!"

"Now wait a minute," Inuyasha exclaimed, pulling back jokingly. "What makes ya think that Kagome wouldn't want to be on _my_ team?" He heard a giggle behind him and looked over his shoulder. Kagome had gotten to her feet and had an air of competitiveness around her. "Because, Inuyasha," she began sweetly before narrowing her eyes in rivalry, "I want to see you lose."

Inuyasha put a faux stunned expression on his face as Kagome ran in front of him and snatched the ball out of Souta's hands, sprinting towards Satoru. "Oi!" Souta cried out in surprise. Inuyasha cracked his knuckles as he let out a smirk. "Keh! We'll see about that!" With that, Inuyasha joined Souta in his chase after Kagome and Satoru.

He still wasn't sure if he "loved" her, but he knew that he wanted more than anything to find out whether or not he did. Hearing her laughter was a kind of music that no technology could ever be a substitute for. Dimly hearing Souta cry out, "Hey, no fair, you're not allowed to use your hands," Inuyasha smiled. _The end isn't anywhere near, Kagome. We'll be together for a while yet._

_And this is true._


End file.
